] ♪ a killing that shocked a community inside a couple's home. was it murder, or was it self-defense? >> i'll take you inside the manhunt. "20/20" begins right now. ♪ there had been a murder, and

the place was crawling with police. >> you can see the legs lying on the kitchen floor. >> so, she's just shot in cold blood. >> she is gunned down in her own house. >> it was a sensational case because of who was involved. it happened with a gentleman who was high powered. former marine, former cop in new york city, very successful. she was very successful. >> who is angela bledsoe, and who was this mystery couple? >> angela was done. she wanted out. period. >> he became more controlling. >> he was looking up hidden cameras, spy camera. >> surveillance -- why? what did he find out? >> turns out they both had secrets, and he was carrying his around in a sort of diary. did you think james ray was dangerous? >> there's two sides to every story. >> did you see any indication she lost it and decided to attack? >> when she moved in, that was

the beginning of the end, literally. you're along for the ride with james ray, a new jersey lawyer and father who appears to be in the middle of a routine day, like picking up his daughter alana from school. but there is nothing routine about what's happening here. in just a few short hours, the lives of dad and daughter will be changed forever. >> whenever i was in his presence with the children, he just was like a caring father, you know. >> that evening, 6-year-old alana and her dad are making their way to a new jersey steakhouse to meet up with some family members. it's a meal that will be both brief and bizarre, beginning from the moment james ray pulls into the parking lot. >> james ray meets up with his brother, robert ray. in the back of the restaurant

parking lot where it is dark. his daughter and robert's wife at the time go inside the restaurant. james is wearing sunglasses in the evening, and according to his brother, his demeanor is described as panicky. >> before he became a lawyer, james ray served as a marine and a police officer, so he was familiar with stressful situations, but according to his brother, this felt very different. >> once alone, james makes an unusual request of his brother. and it's interesting to point out these two are not particularly close. but ray asks his brother to watch his daughter alana for 24 hours. robert ray agrees and the two men transfer alana's luggage from one car to the other. then they go inside the restaurant. >> everybody's beginning to order their meals, but things are pretty strange. ray passes on food and sips his water, and it's clear that somebody is missing from this

family gathering, alana's mom, angela. >> they're sitting in a booth. and he asks his brother to take a picture of him with his daughter. and after the picture, he slips out as if he's going to the bathroom. >> he excuses himself from the table, exits the restaurant, and begins to leave the parking lot. robert tries to stop him, but james just keeps on driving. robert ray is so taken aback by what has transpired, he drives over to his brother's home in montclair, new jersey. when he arrives, the home is dark, and the car he saw james leave the restaurant in is not in the driveway. >> with his niece now in the car, robert decides that the best thing to do is to drive the nearly 70 miles back to his home in allentown, pennsylvania, and get 6-year-old alana settled in for the night. >> when they were getting the child ready for bed, meaning

robert ray and his wife at the time, that's when they discovered in the suitcase the letter. it's a one-page typewritten letter telling his brother something awful has happened. >> and based on the content of that letter, robert ray called 911. >> montclair police, inspector ricci. >> uh, hello, inspector. um, my name is robert. i live in pennsylvania. i just got word that, uh, something horrible potentially has happened at my brother's house there in montclair. >> and what happened? >> i am not certain, but it sounds like there may be a murder victim there. >> what's the address? >> north mountain avenue. >> all right, received. i'm en route. send me some units up there, meet me up there. just confirm the address. >> securing the scene and securing any evidence and safety of the people at the scene is my primary responsibility. as an investigative supervisor, i need to start thinking about what i have to do once i get to the scene and what needs to be done prior to my arrival. as far as the suspect goes, i

didn't know where he was at this point. we had to assume that there's a potential threat inside the house and proceed accordingly. >> from the rear of the house looking through the sliding door, you can see the legs lying on the kitchen floor. >> i can say homicide now? >> yeah, yeah. they confirmed it. it's one doa inside the house. uh, we're gonna be putting it in as a felony vehicle. yeah, considered armed and dangerous. use caution. >> inside the home, investigators begin to put together pieces of a puzzle. >> there was a handgun in the pool of blood. >> there was a handgun in the living room on a coffee table. there was a gun cleaning kit in the living room on the coffee table, and obviously the projectile that was embedded in the couch. >> there's a blood trail leading from the living room couch to the kitchen. also, there was another shell casing that was on the kitchen floor.

>> the clock that had appeared to have come off the wall was lying in the kitchen sink and it had stopped. >> the victim is positively identified as 44-year-old angela bledsoe, james ray's live-in girlfriend. the little girl picked up from school is the couple's daughter. >> that was a disturbing aspect of the case. a minor child, 6 years old at the time, picked up by her father and never went home. she never saw her mother again. she ended up going to allentown, pennsylvania, with two people she barely knew. and then after her father walked out, she never saw him again either. >> down in maryland, angela's parents get the devastating news that their youngest daughter is gone. tell me about that day, mr. bledsoe. >> i think i yelled and nothing came out. i cried.

and then i said to myself, bledsoe, you got to get yourself together. >> what did you think had happened? >> i didn't ask for details. i did not know what happened. i did not know what happened. >> what'd you learn about this story and these two people? >> she was indeed a very successful woman. i believe her sister even said that she was making more money in her 20s than her parents had made their entire lives. >> but where exactly is james ray? >> developing story out of new jersey where police are searching for a murder suspect. >> at that point, we came up with a game plan. public enemy number one was james ray. >> lawyer by day, tonight described as armed and dangerous. >> something was off. something was wrong. >> i started knocking on neighbors' doorsm and nobody really seemed to know the victim or her boyfriend.

>> back in allentown, pennsylvania, investigators are headed to robert ray's home to find out what else was in that suitcase, and what they find will spark an international manhunt. >> they know who they are looking for. now they just need to find him. if your moderate to severe crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms are stopping you in your tracks... choose stelara® from the start... and move toward relief after the first dose... with injections every two months. stelara® may increase your risk of infections, some serious, and cancer. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, sores, new skin growths, have had cancer, or if you need a vaccine. pres, a rare, potentially fatal brain condition, may be possible. some serious allergic reactions and lung inflammation can occur. feel unstoppable. ask your doctor how lasting remission can start with stelara®. janssen can help you explore cost support options.

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authorities believe he shot and killed his live-in girlfriend inside their montclair home behind me. >> the crime itself occurred in montclair, new jersey, which is a quiet, suburban, affluent township. >> montclair is a town of about 40,000 people, 12 miles west of manhattan. >> a lot of people who reside in montclair work in new york. >> very family oriented, and you have a lot of new yorkers, even some celebrities, now moving to montclair. >> a mix of socioeconomic statuses and very diverse all around. >> it's beautiful. there are a lot of old stock victorian homes. it's got a bustling downtown, a lot of great restaurants. >> police were called to the upscale house here on the 300 block of north mountain

avenue shortly before midnight. >> i was living in montclair when this case happened. and everybody kept thinking, are we in danger? is there something going on? is it a spree? because nobody's used to that kind of crime happening in that area. >> you expect a call from the city at some point, but getting a call from montclair was surprising. >> they found 44-year-old angela bledsoe had been shot. she was pronounced dead at the scene. >> news of a murder was shocking in this picturesque town of tree-lined streets. james ray and angela bledsoe, like many here, were a professional couple raising a 6-year-old daughter. >> james was very accomplished. he had an mba and he had a law degree. >> james looked great on paper. he has his own business. he was a marine. he was a former police officer. >> they met in brooklyn.

angela was working as a financial advisor, and ray offered to hire her at his insurance brokerage. >> and angela, what she would do is she recruited people to sell life insurance. they had an agreement as far as the commission that she would get and the cut that he would get. >> so she didn't work for him, she worked alongside and helped his business? >> exactly. >> they had a lot in common as it pertained to business, and i know that they had this power-couple dynamic between them. i think she was attracted to that as well. >> family and friends we spoke with said they were happy that angela seemed to have found a good guy. >> the first time that i saw him was at my dad's surprise birthday celebration. and from afar i could see them. and they seemed very happy together. i mean, they were dancing, and he twirled her around. she -- you know, she was laughing and smiling, and they seemed happy. so i was like, oh, like they look nice together. >> you could see that they had a

connection. they had a spark amongst themselves. >> and she told my mom, well, mom, he's special. >> initially, i thought he would be a nice individual for her. >> i could tell he was a little older than her when i first met him, so i wasn't sure how serious it was. >> there was an 11-year age difference between angela and james. >> he probably was extremely charming, which is i'm sure how he attracted angela, because i know angela. so he would've had to kind of bring his "a" game to get her to even want to look his way. >> i could see how james was charismatic. and he did have ways about him being funny, intelligent, and things like that. so i think she looked at him kind of as a catch. >> do you remember when she met james ray and what she said about him? >> she admired him. and then i think the relationship kinda moved along pretty quickly.

>> you talked a lot. does she share much about her love life? does she want to be married at some point? did she talk about what she wanted for herself personally? >> she did. she wanted to be married, and we did talk about that. >> so for this couple, clearly something went tragically wrong on that october night. >> and for the detectives who began to investigate, their attention turned to james ray. having left behind his daughter with his brother, robert ray, and those two suitcases. >> there were two suitcases that he packed for his daughter with a lot of clothing. he printed out and left for his brother a disney cruise itinerary. there were certified checks. one was in the amount of $11,500 for his daughter. the other was in the amount just shy of $10,000 for robert ray to cash for the daughter. he also left a letter for his brother. >> this letter that ray left for his brother is chockful of

information for investigators. but first and foremost, it's a startling admission that ray did in fact shoot angela. he says he has an explanation. but also goes on to say quote, i am scared and don't want the long burden of a trial to prove my point. >> in the aftermath of the shooting, he felt he was in a no-win situation, so he had to flee. >> and he also didn't have his ducks in a row. >> he knew he was gonna be arrested and that he would need bail money. so he had to figure that out before he turned himself in. >> on the news, it was saying that james ray was on the run, for killing angela. >> investigators are now looking for bledsoe's boyfriend 55-year-old james r. ray iii. >> we didn't know where he was. it was very dramatic. >> he is in the wind, as we like to say, which is, you know, we don't know his whereabouts. and all we can do is gather enough information.

>> it is quite a story, and there's more -- in the letter, ray drops several bombshells, including claims that angela was becoming violent with him. >> after nine years of this long relationship, angela was done. she was leaving james ray. she wanted out. period. >> some are even wondering if the relationship was doomed from the start when angela discovered an explosive secret he'd been keeping from her. eep breath out] [humming] during your pregnancy you'll take about 6 million breaths. two breaths as you get pfizer's maternal rsv vaccine, abrysvo. the only maternal vaccine given between 32 through 36 weeks of pregnancy to protect babies against rsv from birth through 6 months. 6 millions breaths to meet your baby. know you've helped protect them against rsv. abrysvo is not for everyone

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how are you doing between practices? i feel pretty good. surrounding myself with a great team. de'aaron we're going to take a quick look at your knee with ultrasound. everything is looking great. but not just for me. for them. it's great to see you again man. thanks jb. for all that is me, for all that is you, kaiser permanente. developing story right now, essex county. a suspect on the run following a murder in montclair. >> a woman was found dead on north mountain avenue. police are now looking for the boyfriend. >> i got a call early one morning indicating that there had been a murder in montclair. communities like montclair, it is very, very rare.

so that's a situation that is going to get a lot of media attention. >> i was calling everyone i knew in town, all my connections. i wrote a deep dive about who is angela bledsoe and who was this mystery couple. >> angela's family describes her as a gentle soul, quiet, soft-spoken. they say she'd been that way since childhood. take me back to childhood, growing up. give me a sense of what that was like and how you all got along. >> we're pretty much a middle income family. church goin' folks. we went to church on sunday, went to sunday school. we got along very well. >> what were her interests as a child? >> angela, she was very active in school. she was a honor student. she was a part of the student government association. and also a fellow rattler.

because we both attended florida a&m university. >> once she was in college, and she majored in business. >> yes. she was a part of a student government association. she pledged a beta alpha chapter of delta sigma theta sorority incorporated. after she graduated, she moved to new york. ♪ >> i believe she was very successful as a financial analyst, and i didn't know too many 27-year-olds who were able to buy their first home, let alone in new york, in brooklyn, in a brownstone. >> and that brownstone was one of those stepping stones to get her to where she wanted to be. if i had to say she had a type, angela would have a type of someone who was going to be as successful and driven as she is. >> and that's when angela met james ray. >> you could definitely tell that he was very into her and that she was very into him.

>> the couple seemed to be happy and in love, but it turns out james ray was harboring a deep secret. >> james was married. they had two grown, adult children. >> i do not recall how she found out, but she was not pleased, as you can imagine. it's not in her character to date a married man, and it would never have been her first choice to become involved with a married man. >> i know what she told me was that she didn't know it first, so my only guess is that she was already smitten by this point and couldn't let go of the relationship. but once you find out, then you have a decision to make. >> although angela knew james was married, she stayed in the relationship. >> and i was surprised at her decision to continue to date him. so i don't know if she was already too deep in the relationship to stop it.

>> angie wore rose-colored glasses. in a lot of cases. >> love kind of blinds you to certain things and makes you more willing to overlook or give grace, as it should, right? when you're in love with someone, you want to operate from a place of grace. >> i was beginning not to like him, and i didn't like their dynamic together. and i was just hoping it was a phase and it would go away, but then when she got pregnant with their daughter, i think that locked her in. >> if you look at some of the pictures that she took when she was pregnant, you could tell she was already in love with her baby. >> angela and james' daughter, alana, was born in 2012. >> i feel like angela approached motherhood in the same way she approached all the other things in life. like, she was committed to making sure that her child has the best experiences, best opportunities. >> was she happy as a mom? >> oh, yes. yes, indeed.

she loved being a mother. you would almost think she might have been the first mother. she was extremely protective of alana. >> after she had the baby, angela lived largely on her own in brooklyn while james lived comfortably with his wife in upper montclair. >> what about james ray? was he a good father? was he an involved father? >> early on, he was not. and even one time when she wanted to go to a meeting, he wasn't available and she was really frustrated. and i asked her, i said, well, you know, before you all had her, did you all discuss how you all were going the facilitate and handle things? and she said no, so there was friction there. >> eventually, after ray's wife of more than 20 years and mom of his two grown children moves out, angela moves in to his montclair home. when she moved in, was the hope that they would become more of a family, that they would participate together?

what were the expectations, do you think? >> i think the long-term expectation was that they were going to get married. that's what she hoped for initially. >> and they both were very close to their daughter. he took her golfing three times a week. he cooked. and they just loved her. >> and i think it started off in a positive light with hopes, you know, of a future marriage at one point, and then it just -- it changed over time. once she lived with him is when you can see someone day in and day out of who they are. and i think that's when i first started to get a sense from her that she wasn't as happy as i thought. >> they weren't really communicating with one another. they were kind of past the honeymoon phase of the relationship and into the reality. but it really became a co-parent existence in the household, and it was no longer a relationship. >> she complained about him to her family. she said he was controlling. he would criticize her in front of their daughter.

>> after a while, i noticed every time she called, she was complaining about him more and more. >> she would just text me little things he would say, little things he would do. he became a little paranoid, and he became more controlling after a while. >> we were at homecoming one time, and we were going to take a group picture. and there were some guys in the picture, friends that we all went to school with. and she was like, just don't post that. i don't want to hear about that when i get back home. >> the more she would share, the more his actions worried me. it even got to a point one time, i was like, "do you need to come stay with me until you figure out this situation? because it doesn't sound like you're safe. it sounds like he's unraveling." and i even put that into text messages to her. >> so you wanted her to move on. did she say why she hadn't moved out? >> well, she -- she needed to find a place. and she was wavering, like, can i try and make this work? should i stay? should i leave? she wanted, you know, her

daughter to have a full family, a mom and a dad. >> and you wanted her, at that point, to move on and to claim her own life. >> i wanted her out of the house. >> but as the troubled relationship heads towards a violent end, more skeletons would come out. it turns out angela had been keeping secrets of her own. (man) what if my type 2 diabetes takes over? what if all i do isn't enough? or what if i can do diabetes differently? (vo) now you can with once-weekly mounjaro. mounjaro helps your body... ...regulate blood sugar... ...and mounjaro... ...can help decrease how much food you eat. 3 out of 4 people reached an a1c of less than 7%. plus people taking mounjaro... ...lost up to 25 pounds. mounjaro is not... ...for people with type 1 diabetes or children.

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a manhunt is -- for james ray, who is suspected of

fatally shooting his girlfriend. >> 24 hours after angela bledsoe's body is found, james ray is on the run. and as with any fugitive considered armed and dangerous, the u.s. marshals are called in. meanwhile, police are still processing the crime scene and examining that stunning letter s ray wrote to his brother. >> robert ray immediately notified us of what was in the letter, which basically indicated that he was cleaning his weapons, and that ms. bledsoe came at him with another weapon. >> right there in the second paragraph, ray saying that he was cleaning his guns when angela picked one up and was going to shoot him. >> he said that he shot her in self-defense, that she pulled the gun on him. >> he shot her and couldn't stop shooting her. >> it was a sensational case. it happened with a gentleman who was high-powered. she was very successful. it goes back to that whole thing of you never know what's going

on behind closed doors. >> one of the first things investigators started to pore over was the couple's text messages, and a picture begins to emerge of a relationship on the brink. >> when she moved in, that was the beginning of the end, literally. at some point, james became controlling, james became jealous, james became a complainer. he called her names. he said she was lazy. >> it just seemed like he wasn't in the right state of mind. he was very jealous and not trustworthy of angela whatsoever. >> he was looking up hidden cameras, wall clock hidden cameras, spy cameras, gps trackers. >> surveillance, why? >> i can't answer that.

he was asking her about her whereabouts all the time, according to the text messages that we had. >> at that point in time in their relationship, he was very well aware that angela was looking to kind of move on. >> because he was breaking into her phone, he did discover at some point that she could have been seeing someone named bakari. he had a sense that something was going on because he was reading text messages and things like that. >> he thought she was leaving to go have this affair and continue on a relationship with another man in another state and take away their daughter. >> bakari and angela went to school together, famu. they were friends there, strictly friends, nothing romantic. and when they graduated, they kind of separated.

she went to a famu homecoming event and reconnected with bakari. >> they saw each other at this homecoming, and that precipitated a sexual relationship that they had. >> bakari burns. >> yes, bakari burns. and then they began an intimate relationship. >> did you hear or had she shared that she was seeing somebody else? >> well, she had her friend, bakari. i do feel that she had feelings for him, but as far as dating and all of that, she didn't say that they were dating. >> when i read the text, james found out about bakari, i called her. what did he find out? who is bakari? because you never told me anything about bakari. she just made it seem like he was jealous of an old college boyfriend. >> two days before the murder happened, james ray had called bakari burns, and he frightened him. "do you know that i exist? do you know that angela has a daughter? do you know that angela lives with me and sleeps in my bed with me every night?

are you aware of me?" and before that conversation ended, james ray says to him, i may be coming down to visit you in florida. >> things started to come to a head apparently between angela bledsoe and james ray. angela bledsoe sent a text message to james ray indicating that she was done. she was done with the relationship, she checked out, and then she gave him a list of reasons why she was done. >> such as? >> that he just wasn't compassionate, he didn't respect her, that he was controlling. >> that he wasn't invested in the relationship. >> he wasn't invested in the relationship, and it became apparent to her that she can't change him. >> so their relationship was falling apart. >> it was not salvageable. one of the things that struck us was a prenuptial agreement that he had drawn up between the parties. >> but they weren't married. >> they were not married. and they had no intention of getting married. >> so why would there be a prenup? >> he knows she's leaving. he knows that she was interested in another man. and it was an act of desperation. >> what did he want in the

prenup agreement? prenup agreement? what was he going for? >> there was a clause in that prenuptial agreement that we coined "the infidelity clause." and it basically said that if either party is cheating, the offending party shall pay a sum of $300,000 per act of infidelity. the date timeline that he referenced was from january 1st of 2018 up and until october. >> he was going back to the period that he knew that she was involved with another man. >> exactly. exactly. >> but even though angela was seeing another man, why and how would it have come to this? with ray's allegation that angela grabbed the gun and tried to kill him? >> angela was not a violent person. if anything, i felt like she felt sorry for him because she knew she was going to leave him. and i think she actually felt bad for him. so, i can't imagine her

threatening him or trying to hurt him. >> did your sister have familiarity with guns? >> no. >> did she shoot guns? >> no, she did not. >> so, there was no doubt in your mind -- >> no doubt at all. >> -- about whether she shot him. >> it didn't even make any sense. >> i did ask her one time if there was any abuse in the house, and she denied it. and so, i was like, "are you sure he's never shown any violent tendencies or something you're not sharing with me?" and she was like, there was one time where he tried to choke me, but that was it. >> i was just like, "how can you not take that seriously?" i would think that would trigger her to want to leave sooner. and i think once that erratic behavior started becoming more frequent, that's when she was like, okay, now i'm going to start looking for a place to live. >> she was looking to get a home in new jersey. so she decided, if i'm going to do this, i'm moving out with my daughter and keep her in state, but i need to get out of this house.

>> back at that house on north mountain avenue, police are also making other discoveries. clues left behind at the bloody crime scene are telling their own tale. when you saw this, you said this was significant. why was that important to you? >> this is actually gold for us. my husband and i have never been more active. shingles doesn't care. i go to spin classes with my coworkers. good for you, shingles doesn't care. because no matter how healthy you feel,

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police came to this home on a wellness check around midnight and made the horrifying discovery inside. 44-year-old angela bledsoe dead

from gunshot wounds. >> i couldn't believe what i was hearing and what i was seeing on the news. >> inside the house on mountain avenue, police are trying to piece together what happened to angela bledsoe, and the one person they can't question is her partner and killer james ray, who's vanished after claiming self-defense. now, he is a former military person, a former law enforcement officer, had martial arts training. did it make sense that he would run from her if she were even pointing a gun at him? >> when you look at his background, what you know about police officers, what you know about military personnel, what you know about people trained in the martial arts, is that they're trained to diffuse situations, but he chose deadly force. >> there is one person who's claiming that he could do

nothing else but fire at her to save his own life. but there's much more to it, because there's two sides to every story. >> and forensic evidence often tells its own story. howard ryan is a crime-scene expert who spent 25 years with the new jersey state police. we asked him to walk us through the evidence found at the scene. you begin looking at these crime scene photos. you're going to see something that we don't see. >> if you're in this field, you tend to key in on certain things. a lot of times in a shooting or any act of violence, the question that has to be answered is, how? how did it happen? >> inside the couple's home, a number of things were found, including a cache of weapons. >> recovered one springfield 9-millimeter on the kitchen floor. there was one springfield 9-millimeter on the coffee table. two .22-caliber revolvers.

and then there was two 12-gauge shotguns that were recovered from the bedroom. >> there was also a gun cleaning kit and a couple of gun cases. >> and detectives notice something else -- that fallen clock in the kitchen sink. >> the clock was displaying a time of 11:15, so it's a presumption that the clock fell off of the wall at the time of the shooting. >> they together dropped off their minor child at school that morning, so nobody else is there. >> looking at the evidence, ryan zeros in on that 9-millimeter lying near angela's body. you see the gun here with a lot of blood underneath it. what jumps out right away to you here? >> what it tells us really is that the gun was placed there after the blood. >> what about here though? you do see blood on the gun right there. >> with the amount of blood, if this gun had moved through this blood, i would have an expectation of blood being all

over the surface of the gun on that side, and it's just not there. >> so that immediately was an alarm bell for you. >> yes, it was. >> at this point, investigators don't think that 9-millimeter was the gun used to kill angela. >> authorities are looking at ray's claim of self-defense. and to them, the evidence at the scene suggests otherwise. >> there was no gun in angela bledsoe's hand. >> and there were also no fingerprints. if the gun was pointed by angela bledsoe at james ray, there should have been some fingerprints. >> it was apparent that things had been moved. >> so this looked like a staged crime scene to you. >> yes. >> along with the gun at her side, then we see a stool, a stool which they say didn't belong there. >> there is a mobile phone seated, perfectly centered on the top of the stool, with a substantial amount of transfer bloodstain. >> what does this blood tell you?

>> what that tells us is this phone with the blood on its surface was placed in this position after the bloodshed. >> investigators also have questions about four shell casings found at the scene, three of which they say appear to have been moved. >> there were four discharged .45-caliber shell casings that were recovered in that home. one was found on the kitchen floor. three had been picked up and placed in a gun box that was on the glass coffee table where the other guns were placed. >> detectives saw them right on the coffee table lined up next to each other. highly unusual. >> three shell casings, right side up on the living room table? something's not right here. >> obviously someone had placed them there. >> while much of the evidence is right there inside the kitchen, a picture is beginning to emerge for investigators of a deadly confrontation that started in the couple's living room.

>> there were four shots fired at angela bledsoe. one missed. three went into her body. one to the chest, one to the back, and one to the head. >> so you were able to kind of map out what you think happened. >> yes. we believe that the first shot was right here on the couch. the projectile is there. the blood is on the cushion of the sofa. we know then she moves. there is a transfer of blood on the armrest of the sofa that she ran around. we know that she's moving towards the kitchen because that's her final resting position. at that point, she receives a gunshot wound to the back, so i believe this is the second shot. she goes down. she's on the ground. as she ends up in this final resting position, there is a shot that ricochets and strikes the floor. and after that, we believe she's shot through the head. >> what's important about that is that it shows that angela bledsoe was being fired upon from above. she was already on her back on the kitchen floor. >> so she's just shot in cold

blood. >> she is gunned down in her own house. >> this is a couple that was in the midst of a lot of turmoil. do you see any indication that maybe she just lost it and decided to attack? >> i don't think so. the gun that was placed next to her on the floor, there was no round in the chamber. even if she were to grab the gun in defense, she would've loaded the weapon. i don't think she ever touched the weapon. >> but those who know james ray say there's got to be another side to this story. >> personally, i cannot imagine what really happened. i can't imagine. >> we don't know what really happened. >> it was only two person in the house at the time. angela, she cannot speak. the only person who know is god, and he's not talking. >> but james ray is talking, on the lam and on the phone as he flees the police. >> for about an hour, he was speaking to this woman. >> and he's got a lot to say. >> i had to call you.

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>> after the murder, he is on the run, he's getting out of town. >> yes, he's immediately getting out of town. >> if you commit a crime in the state of new jersey, we will not forgot, we will not forgive, we will find you. >> that's somebody looking to get out of town after they committed a brutal homicide. >> tonight we're taking you inside the mind of the man who pulled the trigger. his written rambling on the road. >> while there was a manhunt for him, he was writing this, kind of like an adventure story. >> his story was what? >> angela was in a tirade. >> he feared for his life. >> did she tell you how much she hated james, how much she despiced him, how much she wanted to spit in his food? >> he wanted to leave the relationship. >> no question. >> he was not happy. >> no question. >> we didn't know where he was. >> he was just like a ghost on the road.

44-year-old angela bledsoe, a devoted mom, has been found shot to death in her home here in upscale montclair, new jersey. the last person to see her alive is her live-in boyfriend, james ray, who admits to killing her -- he says in self-defense. now there's a problem. james ray has vanished. >> police tonight are searching for a 55-year-old man, lawyer by day, tonight described as armed and dangerous. >> when the news was they're looking for him, he's on the run, and i said, well, he must have snapped if this really happened. >> we want to show you a photo of the man they are now wanting to arrest, 55-year-old james ray iii.

>> give me a sense of how you are coping. you've lost your daughter in a very tragic way, you're trying to take care of your granddaughter, and the man who's accused of killing your daughter is on the run. how are you coping with all of this? >> we did not know where he was. >> what was that like for you and the family? >> he could have come for us. there was a fear of what else he could do. >> but the bledsoe family, in the midst of their grief, have to find a way to put their fears aside. you're planning a funeral for your daughter, and he is on the loose. tell me about having to go through a funeral and bury your daughter, your youngest. >> you know, it -- it hurt walking in there, but then too, i saw an abundance of flowers.

i said, my goodness, she has really touched a lot of lives. >> it was a beautiful homegoing service for her. we had to have it a megachurch because of the number of people that were in attendance. >> angela's family is waiting anxiously for news of ray's whereabouts, and authorities are now beginning to build what they say is a timeline of ray's actions after the deadly encounter. >> in those immediate hours, he doesn't leave the home. angela is there, lifeless in the kitchen, bleeding out, and he gets everything in order. >> he was alone in the house from 11:30, when angela died, to 4:30. so he had a lot of time. >> he was planning his departure, and he was planning on getting out of town. >> he was also writing his last will and testament. he was doing a lot of banking.

>> remember, part of the trove of items ray left behind in a suitcase with his brother were those two checks -- one in the amount of $11,500 for his daughter and another just shy of $10,000. >> surveillance cameras capture ray picking up his 6-year-old daughter from school. >> after james picks up his daughter, he makes several more phone calls, including one to his adult daughter, chelsea. >> hey, chels. how you doing? this is dad. love you. just wanted to hear your voice. you take care of yourself. daddy loves you very much. listen, i'm gonna ask you a big, big favor. get to know your sister alana please. >> thank you for the present you gave me! >> talk to you later, chels. love you. >> and then he called his adult

son jay and left him a voicemail as well. >> hey, jay. how you doing, buddy? this is dad. just called to say i love you. give me a buzz when you can. >> the longest call ray makes is to an old friend. >> for about an hour while he was on the road, he was speaking to this woman. >> hello? >> as he's speaking to her, he's recording it. >> the phone call starts off with mr. ray discussing mundane issues such as the weather, but eventually it goes into mr. ray airing out his grievances about the situation with ms. bledsoe. >> she's upset and annoyed because five years ago i wasn't available to be there with her when she was pregnant. >> huh? >> i said, i was -- i was married. you know that. i did everything that i can possibly do. i was often so tired from staying out late at night,

visiting her and the baby. >> when he started to discuss the relationship and things that he discovered on angela's phone, you can hear his tone start to change and his demeanor start to change. >> i find out that she's planning to take alana. she wrote her cousin, as soon as i get my house, i'm out. and she's gone, like gone. >> it was clear, based on that conversation, that he had seen conversations angela was having via text. >> hear the next part. the brother-in-law has the audacity to say, somebody ought to tell him -- meaning me -- that nobody in the family likes him. >> james ray and his friend had this long conversation, but he left out one glaring omission,

that he had just killed angela. >> ray also never mentions that he is a man on the run. so what is exactly is going on in the mind of this killer? >> if i fly to ethiopia and my brother and alana need support, i need to be able to count on you, miss. >> you can. you can. ♪ cheerful holiday music throughout ♪

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james ray seems to have fallen off the face of the earth. once a doting dad, he's now a wanted man, and he's been missing for nearly a week. >> a manhunt is for james ray, who is suspected of fatally shooting his girlfriend inside the house they shared with their child. >> it was a long time that he was on the run.

people were nervous. >> ray had already killed his girlfriend, angela, and now some are terrified about who could be next. >> her lover in florida had to go into a hotel, into hiding. he had threatened the lover. >> we were fearful. we didn't know where he was. could have came to maryland. >> authorities knew they were running out of time. >> this was a well-coordinated effort between federal, state, local, international efforts. we knew that if we did not move quickly, it would have the risk of having a cold case. >> finally, after more than a week, there's a huge break in the case. >> we were able to put in motion a red notice. a red notice is basically an international warrant. >> we eventually received some information that he had traveled to mexico.

>> once we finally found out where he was, we put out an apb on him, including a notification should he get on a plane. and as it turned out, he did get on a plane. >> james ray takes a flight to mexico city. his passport hits, and authorities now know he has booked a flight to havana, cuba. somebody reaches out to cuban officials, who take ray into custody immediately. >> now, keep in mind, the united states does not have an extradition treaty with cuba, making the extradition of american citizens from the country extremely rare. >> james ray could have gone anywhere in the world, but he chooses cuba. it seems he is trying figure out where he can go and maybe not come back. but fbi agent brandon lackey

flew to cuba to do just that, bring james ray back to the u.s. >> the supervisor yelled at me and said, hey, brandon, is your official passport good? and i said, yes, sir, it is. he said, okay, well i need you to go to cuba tomorrow. when i became an fbi agent, i never thought i would be traveling down to cuba to take a fugitive into custody. as we land at the airport in havana and start taxiing towards what we believe was the terminal -- >> captured on cuban state television and obtained by nbc news is the arrest of james ray. seems cuban officials wanted something in exchange for ray. >> it was pretty obvious that they expected me to give some type of speech, so they ushered me towards the podium. i spent a couple minutes just thanking the cuban government. on behalf of the united states government, we are incredibly grateful for your assistance and your support in detaining him

and getting him back to the united states. >> after agent lackey gives his speech, cuban law enforcement officials turn ray over to american federal agents. >> mr. ray looked healthy. i can best describe his demeanor as a mix between a little bit of a surprise and a little bit of relief. >> when he ends up getting on the plane from cuba back to america, escorted by federal agents, he blurts out he just went there to clear his head. that his intention was to come back in early december. >> myself and mr. ray sat right beside each other for about three hours, so we talked. he did not describe any type of mistreatment by the cuban officials, or he didn't have any altercation with any other inmates or anything like that. >> a murder suspect from new jersey on the run from police now in custody. >> he was on the run for nearly two weeks and finally captured some 1,300 miles away trying to

escape into cuba. >> last night, the defendant, james ray iii, was returned to teterboro airport and is now at the essex county correctional facility here in newark. mr. ray left new jersey, traveled to the southwest united states, and then crossed over the border into mexico. from there, he took a plane to cuba. >> when they finally said that they had apprehended him and that he had gotten all the way to cuba was just mind-boggling. >> nobody seems to remember any case where cuba was involved, where there was an international flight, a pursuit out of the country, an apprehension, let alone the fact it was a homicide in one of the most affluent towns in new jersey. >> i think he felt like, oh, america doesn't have an extradition treaty with cuba, so i'm going to be here and forget about it. but that's not how it works, buddy. >> if you commit a crime in the

state of new jersey, we will not forget, we will not forgive, and we will find you. >> if someone's acting in self-defense, why would they run? that's not someone acting in self-defense. that's somebody looking to get out of town after they committed a brutal homicide. >> it was such a relief, and i was very grateful that they brought him back from cuba. i wish they would of kept him there. >> with ray now back on u.s. soil, police begin to search his small, black duffel bag. and hidden in there is something completely unexpected. >> the very first page where he begins to speak about the actual incident does take us into the mind of a killer. >> could this be the diary of a killer? but i manage it well. ♪ ♪ jardiance ♪ ♪ it's a little pill with a big story to tell. ♪ ♪ i take once-daily jardiance, ♪

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when james ray finds himself in custody back in the u.s., amongst his meager possessions are a wad of cash, a change of clothes, a road atlas, and most curiously, an 18-page handwritten journal. it's part memoir, part spy thriller. the former police officer and marine detailing for the first time the full version of what he says happened the day he killed his live-in girlfriend,

angela bledsoe. >> in his handwritten journal, he lays out a version of events after dropping his daughter off at school on the morning of october 22nd, 2018. >> his story was what? >> his story was that they, together, dropped off their child at school that morning. and on their way home, they began to talk about their relationship. and in his words, angela was in a tirade. >> she began to get emotional and started talking about how no one in her family likes me, then reflecting on what she call the worst years of her life because i called her lazy. >> ms. bledsoe indicated that she was going to run errands. thinking that he was alone in the house, he decided that it would be a good time for him to clean his guns. he took his guns out of his safe, went downstairs, placed them on the coffee table, and then went to the bathroom. he heard angela call out to him. upon entering the living room, he saw her sitting there with a gun in her hand. >> and he said she went on a

tirade complaining about everything that was wrong with the relationship and wrong with him. >> the very first page where he begins to speak about the actual incident -- >> we asked katherine ramsland, a forensic psychologist, to analyze ray's journal. >> leaving behind a narrative that they killed someone and spending the time, it's stunning. there's no sense of being disturbed by what he's done. it's very calculated. there's a definite urge to control how -- exactly how people are going to understand this. james ray's narrative does take us into the mind of a killer. >> as she continued to rant about all the dysfunctional things in our relationship, with a weapon pointed at me, and not hearing the words coming from my mouth -- put the gun down we can talk about it -- i remember feeling nervous and scared and out of options. >> he said he very carefully

kept eye contact with her but tried to reach for a gun to protect himself. he said he shot once in her direction. he thought he missed. >> he then ran back to the bathroom where he remained for several minutes, or what he describes as "what felt like an eternity." mr. ray then exits the bathroom and follows the trail of blood leading from the living room to the kitchen. >> she was initially sitting up with the gun towards her side. her head turned towards me as i took a step from the stove in her direction. she lifted her arm and pointed at me again. out of reaction, i fired in her direction, and it seemed like i couldn't stop firing. >> he then fired multiple shots in her direction, ultimately killing her. >> ray goes on to write that his intention after realizing that

angela's gone was to take his own life as well, except he had other things to do first. >> left the house only with plans to return to the house, lay next to angela, and pull the trigger. however, i wanted to get alana to a safe place and place her in the custody of my bother. >> he was going to lie down and shoot himself in the head, and he kept being distracted from this idea that he was going to kill himself, too. >> after the murder, he is on the run. he's getting out of town. >> yes. he's immediately getting out of town and getting out of the state. >> after the tragic course of events, a six-day road trip was underway to arrive at my planned destination of obscurity. >> he got a taxi to philadelphia, pennsylvania, and he paid cash for that cab ride. >> he knows to lose his car, because he knows police will be looking for that car. remember, this is an ex-cop. he's a lawyer. he knows how the criminal investigation works. so he's being very methodical about what he's doing.

>> describing what he says he does after he leaves new jersey, ray's writings become even more bizarre, almost as if he's narrating a novel. >> while there was a manhunt for him, he was writing this kind of like an adventure story. he writes that, this should be published and half of the proceeds can go to my daughter. >> in the journal, names are changed. ray calls himself jack, angela, mousey, and his young daughter, snookums. the chronicle is even has an apt title, "on the move." >> the taxi from newark airport dropped jack off in philadelphia chinatown at 2:00 a.m. as he passed a block where homeless undertook shelter, jack sought cover of police by blending in with the homeless to get some sleep. >> and he had the murder weapon. and he dislodged various pieces and left them in different restrooms along the way.

and then he went to a truck stop and started hitching rides. >> james, calling himself jack, hitchhikes through multiple states into mexico before ultimately making that ill-fated trip to cuba. the once successful attorney at law now running from it with just the clothes on his back. >> with little money available, jack had to adopt a survivor's mentality. only focus on shelter, money and food. >> i don't think james ray ever thought he was coming back to face a court and a jury in essex county, new jersey. >> he chronicled so much of his escape in this story, in a journal. how important was this journal to you in your case? >> it was extremely important. you compare it to the evidence that you have and you're able to corroborate or contradict what he is claiming. >> now charged with murder, james ray is about to stand trial, and his words wouldn't be

the only ones coming back to haunt him. >> i enjoyed going to the conference with my sister. it reminds me of what life that i could have had had i listened to her when i was in my 20s. >> angela bledsoe was dead, but in some ways, she was almost able to speak to you. >> absolutely. (vo) you weren't made for moderate to severe crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. but #1 prescribed entyvio is. it's the most prescribed biologic for crohn's and uc. in clinical trials, entyvio helped many people achieve long-term relief and remission. infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. although unlikely, a risk of pml, a rare, serious, potentially fatal brain infection cannot be ruled out. tell your doctor if you have an infection, experience frequent infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. liver problems can occur. ask your healthcare provider about entyvio, the treatment prescribed to more people with crohn's and uc

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there's a saying, the wheels of justice turn slowly, but in the case of james ray, that was an understatement. it would take four and a half years before his high-profile case, delayed by the pandemic, would finally make it to this new jersey courthouse. weeks turn into months turn into years. you were dealing with your grief and your broken heart, and now you've got this trial that's facing you. how important was that to you, to stay the course for the trial? >> very important for our daughter, until the trial came. >> four years after angela bledsoe was shot and killed in her montclair home, her boyfriend is now standing trial for murder. >> every day, angela's grief-stricken parents sit side-by-side in the new jersey courtroom. other family and friends of hers wear pins adorned with her picture to show their support.

>> we were going to show up on a regular to make sure that they understood that we loved her, we're going to be here for her. >> we knew that this is going to be one of the biggest trials that happened in the state of new jersey in a very, very long time. >> the prosecution's challenge is to demonstrate that he did not act in self-defense, that it was intentional. what was really interesting to me is that the jury is 14 with alternates and 10 of them are men. there's only four women on the jury. and that was pretty striking to me, especially since the victim is female. >> she was brutally gunned down by james ray, the defendant seated here before you, in the home they shared with their 6-year-old daughter. >> michele miller, she is a pit bull. she stays on a case like a pit bull on a pork chop. she really sunk her teeth into

it. >> and while her body was bleeding out and getting cold from death, this attorney and former united states marine was preparing for a life of obscurity in the hope of taking refuge in the non-extraditing country of cuba. >> pitted against the prosecution is hard-nosed, brash new jersey native, defense attorney brooke barnett. >> brooke barnett is a very successful lawyer. she's won many cases. she does a lot of these high-profile cases. >> when confronted by angela with a gun pointing directly at him, that he had no choice but to shoot. >> she's really fiery, and brooke made some really, like, big bombshell accusations. it was theater, really. >> ms. miller, your next witness. >> uh, the state will call robert ray.

>> naturally, one of the first people prosecutors call to the stand, james ray's brother, robert. >> testified against his own brother? >> he did. he did. why did you feel you had to call the police? >> i didn't think anyone else had. if the contents of the letter were what were written in it, then, um, the police needed to be called. >> it was riveting. people were like, oh, my god. i feel like there was a "i'm doing the right thing, but that's my brother." i think that first day robert ray set the tone for the entire trial. >> angela bledsoe was dead, but in some ways, she was almost able to speak to you. >> absolutely. >> -- through text messages. >> absolutely. angela complained that he was controlling and demeaning. he was sending her bible verses on how a woman should be submissive to her man. >> angela's sister, lisa laboo,

took the stand to read some of the text messages they exchanged in the months leading up to the shooting. >> what did she text you on, uh, october 12th, 2018 at 5:37 a.m.? >> she says, "he's been up all night. i think, wonder if he went through my phone." >> when you were on the stand, at one point, you read a text that your sister had sent you that had alarmed you. what did it say? >> pretty much, i'm going to beat you up if i find that you're cheating. >> that's pretty scary stuff. >> lisa laboo was asked to read excerpts from angela's diary. she saw entries about how james ray treated her. she literally broke down in tears. >> i enjoyed going to the conference with my sister. it reminds me of what the life -- of what life that i could have had had i listened to her when i was in my 20s.

i would have moved to florida, purchased a very nice house, and built a practice. >> can we get a minute, judge? >> you became so emotional, at some point they had to pause the court. what were you feeling at that moment? >> that just tore me apart. >> she was about to leave this relationship. >> no question. >> and he knew this. >> no question. >> he was not happy. >> no question. >> so there was your motive right there. >> one of our motives. >> it became very clear that there was not only motive evidence that would present a reason why mr. ray would want to kill angela, there was also evidence that would directly refute his claim of self-defense that had been put forth in his handwritten journal. it really put together a very clear picture of what occurred. >> we hired an expert.

a bloodstain pattern analysis expert, and he was critical to the case as well. >> howard ryan, who walked us through the crime scene analysis, testified for the prosecution. >> was there any evidence that you could see from this crime scene that would support that handgun in the kitchen ever being in angela bledsoe's hand? >> no, i don't think it was ever in her hand. >> based on the evidence, she was trying to get away and he gunned her down from behind. >> that's not exactly self-defense. >> it's not self-defense. >> i think when the jury heard this forensics analysis, that said to them, there is no disputing the science here. we were all very curious to see, how is this gentleman going to defend himself? >> that's when brooke barnett takes center stage. >> angela had grown to hate, even despise, disdain for james. >> she was finding flaws, and it was working. so i believe at that point, the tides shifted.

>> angela was not controlled. where does it show that james is controlling? if anything, she's the one who was on his heels. "where are you? when are you coming back? how long are you gonna be?" no evidence of that. ♪ just hear those sleigh bells jingling ♪ ♪ and ring tingle tingling too ♪ ♪ (ring-a-ling-a ding-dong-ding) ♪ ♪ come on, it's lovely weather ♪ ♪ for a sleigh ride together with you ♪ ♪ (ring-a-ling-a ding-dong-ding) ♪ applebee's new holiday combos are ending soon. starting at $13.99. - bye, bye cough. - later chest congestion.

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for weeks, the prosecution has presented a parade of witnesses and strong incriminating evidence against james ray. now it's the defense's turn, and ray's fiery, theatrical lawyer, brooke barnett, goes on the offensive. >> this idea that he's there to try to control her? prove it! so, in the end that really shows a lot about his character, ladies and gentlemen. angela had grown to hate, even despise. she had disdain for james. >> brooke barnett didn't hold back, and it was shocking to everybody involved. you could hear gasps at times. she went right at those jurors,

trying to gain some kind of sympathy for her client and portraying angela in a very negative light. >> while prosecutors framed ray as controlling and jealous -- >> asking about passwords to her phone. >> that my brother was frustrated because angela wanted to move. >> -- barnett paints angela bledsoe as an opportunist, a woman involved with two men of means, ray and bakari burns. wanteto go to flo to get her shot with bakari burns. >> i learned kind of like with everyone else that bakari was actually a person that she was involved with. >> 49-year-old burns, an orlando, florida, city commissioner and the man with whom angela was having that affair, is called to the stand as a prosecution witness. >> "good morning, angela, baby. i wish i was rolling over to give you a good morning kiss and some good morning [ bleep ]." what did that mean, bakari? >> it's self-explanatory. >> well, educate me. >> the defense was trying to

show james ray as a sympathetic figure, and that's what they were doing here. bakari burns was having these exchanges with angela bledsoe. >> when brooke barnett was trying to paint the picture that angela bledsoe was this homewrecker, i'm looking around the room, and every single day her parents sat on the left-hand side of the courtroom in the gallery, and they're crying. one day it got so bad -- >> it was their motion. it was their motion. i didn't have to make -- >> -- the father fainted. he had to be taken out of the courtroom. >> how difficult was that for you to hear unsavory things about your daughter? >> it was very, very difficult. it seemed like you are victimized over again. over lies. and i used to sit there, is this how the law acts to people who are sitting here suffering? >> our family, for us to have to sit there and listen to that and to be treated like we were, that

really bothered us. >> then you were cross-examined. >> right. >> meaning nobody, not you nor anyone else, if you don't live with the couple, you don't really know what happens behind closed doors, correct? >> i wouldn't say nobody, so i don't agree to that. >> well, did angela know the ins and outs of your marital issues or problems between you and your husband? >> what problems? >> oh, you have a perfect marriage? >> judge, argumentative, judge. >> objection as to argumentative, sustained. >> i've never been in a courtroom like that before. and it was grueling, and i had no idea it was going to be over a two-day period. >> did she tell you how much she hated james, how much she despised him? how she wanted to spit in his food? >> she did say that she wanted to spit in his food. >> she couldn't stand him. you couldn't stand him. she couldn't stand him, right? >> i didn't like his behavior, no. absolutely not. >> the defense strategy appears to be two-fold -- paint angela

in an unflattering light and put their own witness, a firearms expert, on the stand to rebut the state's crime scene analyst testimony. >> the defense has to put somebody on the stand who will corroborate what james ray is saying. >> i came to a conclusion that his account was consistent with physical evidence that i looked at and with scientific things i know about shooting and shooting scenes and ballistics. >> i think from the start, brooke barnett and the defense took the tack that this was somewhat of a lackadaisical investigation by detectives. >> i didn't see it as fully until murad muhammad got on the stand. >> detective murad muhammad was the lead investigator on the case. barnett accused him of willful blindness for failing to speak to people ray called on the day of the murder and failing to send angela's cell phone for extraction. >> so, in this case, you did not obtain the telephone evidence from any of these witnesses because you did not feel that it was going to be valuable to your investigation. is that your testimony,

detective? >> no. >> no, you didn't feel it important? >> everything's important. >> but you didn't obtain any telephone evidence or complete telephone evidence in this case, correct? >> yes. >> she was finding flaws, and it was working. so, i believe at that point the tides shifted. >> as the trial went on, were you worried that he might be acquitted? >> there were concerns because all you need is reasonable doubt by one person. so, yeah, that's kind of scary. and if you keep saying certain things enough, they're going to believe it. >> all stand for the entrance of the jurors. >> i submit that if we are to consider the only available account of what happened in the moments, the hours, and the days prior to james ray being confronted with deadly force, then you must find james ray not guilty. >> the evidence would show that this was a knowing and

purposeful murder. i think ms. miller did an excellent job in her summation. >> the defense said to you yesterday that i have the last word. well, that's not true. you have the last word here. when the state submits after all the evidence that's been presented, that last word should be guilty. >> the jury finally gets the case. how worried were you about whether you were actually going to prevail? >> i felt very confident in the evidence that we presented to the jury. but there's always a risk in a domestic violence homicide such as this, again, where there are no witnesses. however -- >> but when the jury went out. >> yeah, when the jury goes out, it's out of your control. >> predominately male jury. you don't know what they're going to decide. >> and after a seven-week trial, the jury took all of three hours to come back with the verdict, which is extraordinarily fast.

>> how do you find on the charge of murder? >> on the charge of murder, we find the defendant guilty of murder. >> the verdict is in, and the verdict is guilty. a jury decides james ray killed angela bledsoe. >> there was proof beyond a reasonable doubt in every sense of the word. >> the jurors having returned a verdict of guilty on all counts. >> as soon as that foreman said, "guilty," we looked at james ray and there was no change. this was a stoic man through and through, emotionless to the end. >> you hear that guilty verdict. what goes through your mind and your heart? >> i felt relieved. i felt hurt. i kind of asked myself, who really won? who won after what we have gone through? >> it's like, thank you, we're getting justice, but she's still not here.

like -- it's like you're back to reality that she's not here. and it gives you a moment of satisfaction, but that feeling just comes back, like you're sad again. >> james ray stood up, he said one or two words, which he whispered in the ear of his attorneys, and he was led away in handcuffs by the sheriff's officers back to his jail cell. >> but two days before ray's sentencing, when it seems the bledsoe family is about to find the justice they've been seeking, a bombshell. does the murder conviction stand?

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it took only three hours of deliberations for this jury to come back with a verdict of guilty against james ray. >> after nearly five long years, when it seems the bledsoe family is finally about to see the justice they'd been praying for, a shocking turn on of all days, father's day.

>> in new jersey, a man who murdered his girlfriend was found dead in his jail cell. the essex county prosecutor says james ray was discovered overnight not breathing. he was due to be sentenced later this week and faced the possibility of a life sentence. >> according to a statement released by the essex county prosecutor's office, the cause and manner of ray's death are unknown, and an autopsy is pending. >> and in a stunning twist, ray's death has a dramatic and unexpected impact on his conviction. >> if someone dies in custody before they've had a chance to be sentenced, it's not uncommon across the country for those charges to be dropped. >> does the murder conviction stand? >> no, it doesn't. actually, what happens is the case is likely to be dismissed. >> dismissed. >> yeah. >> after all of that? >> technically, you're not convicted in the state of new jersey until you're sentenced, so while the jury

found him guilty, it's not concluded until a judgment of conviction is rendered by the court. >> this adds insult to injury for the bledsoes, who feel cheated out of justice. >> there's not a day that goes by, not one day that angie is not on our mind. every day we think about that girl. >> i still hurt. i still hurt. as a father, i wasn't there to protect her. >> one day, i told my husband, i said, you know, i could just go to sleep and not wake up, because the pain and the sorrow, it's like you're just drowning, you know? >> but in the midst of all of this tragedy, a glimmer of hope. >> their daughter is living her best fun, preteen life down in florida with her aunt lisa.

>> and i'm going to make sure she has everything that she needs, and she's like a daughter to me. she's super smart, just like angela was. she says she's doing extremely well in school, straight-a student, coping well. >> do you like the kids at school? >> yeah, they're nice. >> yeah? i had a chance to spend some time with alana in new york city recently. she told me about her life as a cheerleader. she's now in seventh grade. in spite of all of that loss, remarkably, she's thriving. >> angela loved her so much. angela and i used to talk about cardinals, like red birds all the time. and whenever i think of her, one always appears outside of my kitchen window. >> do you find yourself talking to angie in your thoughts, in your prayers? >> mm-hmm. >> in my dreams. i do. i had a dream that she grabbed

my hand, i grabbed her hand, and i said, angie, angie, don't go. and she said -- she said, i got to go. i can't stay. and she floated on away. as i sat there with that family, there was so much emotion, but there could be a bit of closure coming for them, david. >> i know the prosecutor has told you she hopes the judge will still hear the victim impact statement, and of course we'll stay on this. that is our program for tonight. i'm david muir. >> i'm deborah roberts. from all of us at "20/20" and abc news, good night.

for a second time in less than 24 hours because of a former police officer who is suspected of shooting his wife. good evening. i'm ama daetz. >> and i'm dan ashley. thanks for joining us. this started last night at about 7:00 in pleasant hill right off monument boulevard. the swat team was sent home this morning after police said the suspect was no longer a